Daydream
:Saw you in the subway station shining with a strange light. :Girl you're like a weird vacation how'm I gonna make you mine, make you mine? :I saw you in the shipwrecked disco ghosting, drifting 'cross the floor :Wondering where can this go and how to get you out the door, out the door :Shining with the lights going strong. Shining with the lights going strong :Saw you in the morning sunshine you sang star love in the night. '' :''Fightin' all the tears that came on. Squinting in the yellow light, the yellow light :Then I fell out on the streets to write a love song. :A face stared out at me from an ad on a bus stop wall :Well then I met you at the station in Ronkonkoma. :Sweetly resonating with the things you are :Then I know that you're fine and that you're right :and the moonlight shines like a luminous girl tonight :Jesus Christ like a luminous girl tonight :The moonlight shines like a luminous girl tonight :- Mike Doughty - Like a Luminous Girl = = :And I think I believe that, if stones could dream, they’d dream of being laid side-by-side, piece-by-piece, and turned into a castle for some towering queen they’re unable to know. And when that queen’s daughter came of age, I think she’d be lovely and stubborn and brave, and suitors would journey from kingdoms away to make themselves known. And I think that I know the bitter dismay of a lover who brought fresh bouquets every day when she turned him away to remember some knave who once gave just one rose, one day, many years ago... :- Okkervil River - A stone. Karcsi Lamont possesses a charisma that is alternately charmingly endearing, and, maddeningly frustrating. She can be the quitest, most caring, most supportive person you will ever meet, or, a loud, self centered, egocentric monster. She blames it on being a Gemini. An incredibly social person on many levels; she functions well as part of a team or a duo. She's remarkably easy to communicate with, having no trouble speaking her mind or accepting that she might have failed at something (though this inevitably is cause for self examination to avoid the instance from happening again). More than anything, perhaps, she's characterized by a sense of self awareness. She knows what her powers can and cannot do, she knows what she's good at, what she's not; what she wants, what she could care less about In short she knows her value and limits and finds it easy to be confident and secure. = = :All of these lines across my face tell you the story of who I am. So many stories of where I've been and how I got to where I am. But these stories don't mean anything when you've got no one to tell them to. It's true...I was made for you. I climbed across the mountain tops, swam all across the ocean blue. I crossed all the lines and I broke all the rules. But baby I broke them all for you Because even when I was flat broke you made me feel like a million bucks,you do. I was made for you... You see the smile that's on my mouth is hiding the words that don't come out. All of my friends who think that I'm blessed they don't know my head is a mess. No, they don't know who I really am. And they don't know what I've been through like you do.I was made for you... And when these lines across my face tell you the story of who I am. So many stories of where I've been and how I got to where I am. But these stories don't mean anything when you've got no one to tell them to. It's true...I was made for you.'' :- Brandi Carlile - The Story. As a second generation mutantAKA GenToos, more commonly., Karcsi Lamont's DNA came pre-packaged to power, wrapped with a ribbon on it. With two activated Mutant geneclouds to draw on, it meant that straight out of the gates, her powers were on - never was there a time in the young girl's memory when wasnt able to know instinctively what the people around her were thinking. While her parents, in her early years, noted that their red-eyed daughter appeared both incredibly empathetic and intelligent it was also realized and confirmed that Karcsi was powered. Given the relative rarity of mutant relations and the lack of protracted studyMutant DNA, by dint of being mutant DNA, is very often incompatible. The line of speciation is a grey area, and sometimes it's just a matter of rolling a large enough handful of dice looking for a six, but it makes mutant children rare. However, just as they are uncommon, when 2nd-generation mutants are born, they are very likely to have mutations of their own, unique from both parents., 2nd-Gens like Karsci are considered something of an urban myth. So while it might seem intuitively obvious that the child of a mutant is a mutant, the much larger logistical problem arises of ensuring that that mutant child is born at all After all, the parents may not even have the same number of chromosomes. Being such a rare and valuable child, Karsci was therefore the subject of a large amount of scrutiny from medical professionals. Even before she could walk Karcsi received the idle thoughts and memories of both her parentsBoth had placed their heroic identities on hold in favor of raising the girl, considering her significance in terms of human evolution and potential medical progress.. Home schoolFunded by a number of very medical research associations and the creation of the Bateman Grant, a partially-government-funded project that involves equipping parents to serve as part-time teachers to their own children in 'unique circumstances.' was the eventual solution for some of these issues; Kevin Lamont could easily work as a public relations agent from home, and, the first attempts at public school for his daughter had met with disastrous failure; his daughter easily looked into the minds of the students and teachers around her and spilled whatever amusing (embarrassing) secrets she could find. Further, Amelia's own upbringing had heavily emphasised the mother as a caretaker of the family, and, with her heroing careerThat had, for the most part been thrust upon her by chance. on hold, she felt it was a good time to expand their family. Money wasn't an object, so the Lamonts tried for yet another child once Karsci's life situation was stabilised. The bedrock of Karsci's upbringing had been learning discretion. Thanks to her gifts, she was privy to a remarkable amount of information, and rather than teach her to suppress this understanding, to 'not look,' Kevin Lamont decided it was better to teach his daughter responsibility. There was no such thing as bad information - information people should not know. The problem was never the knowledge's fault; knowledge was impartial, dispassionate. It did not know what it was being used for, nor did it care. Therefore, it was Karsci's responsibility to remember that knowing was not the problem, but that she had to be sensitive to other people's needs. She would see things she did not understand, through the lens of other people's understanding. At the time, this lesson, which Kevin did not ever shy from extolling, was difficult for Karsci to understand and grasp onto; she was inquisitive, so when she saw something in the minds of her parents she did not understand, she wanted to ask. During this time, Kevin established a rule; if Karsci ever wanted to know about something, something that she didn't understand and he didn't think she would want to know just yet, that she just had to ask him three times. Three times and no more, and he would tell her. This maxim became a watchword in the family, and a way Karsci could admit to doing something she felt she shouldn't have. This maxim was tested most sternly when Karsci was eight years old. Her parents had been trying to have another child ever since she was four - and they were even concerned about the age gap between her and her future siblings. Yet, around the age of eight, Karsci started to hear a third, new, voice, a thought around the house that was only ever where her mother was, and lacked for a lot of the common things she knew when she heard a voice. An incomplete voice, the identity of her mother's growing child. But no sooner had she started to understand this voice, then it was taken away. Mom and dad left the house for the night, and a babysitter came around and let Karsci have ice cream sandwiches for dinner and watch An American Tale and The Littlest Hobo DVDs. When mom and dad came home, however, Karsci was subjected to the most torturous six months of her life - feeling her mother's deep-seated anguish, and feeling her own loss for the voice that she knew, she felt, almost better than anyone else. At the end of this arc of tragedy, Karsci began to contemplate what had happened, through the lens of tragedy. Amelia Lamont had taken it upon herself to start improving the world. She used the Bateman grant to its utmost, becoming a fully qualified teacher. Karsci's education flew as far and as fast as she wanted it to - developing in areas she excelled, and becoming competent in the areas she was less certain. Karsci felt very keenly that she was her mother's lifeline - that the loss of her not-even-named sibling had left her mother without a feeling of purpose. This purpose slowly but surely shaped Karsci, who spent her own time focusing on the culture of her own world, watching superheroes on TV, learning about her parents' older careers, about her mother's interest in dance as a child - an interest she shared, intuitive rhythm flowing to her feet. Contrary to most girls her age, she became quite adept at mathematics, and, in a unique application of her developing abilities, even went on international, geographic 'tours' - by visiting friends who had been to the other nations, on hiking trips and journeys overseas, and saw through their eyes.This also planted a remarkable seed of insight in her concerning tactile thinking purely from being around her parent's Meta-human friends.If she's quick to spot weakness, it's because she's learned where to look.During this time, there was a simple rule: if she saw something she didn't understand, she wrote it down and asked Amelia about it at home. This kept her from asking about what she saw in their elderly dutch neighbour's trips to Amsterdam.Of course this also prepared her for the internet in ways she probably should not have been. Still, Karsci was learning just how important people were to places. She saw the Basilicae of Rome. She saw the Arc De Triomphe. She stood at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial on a hot summer afternoon, listening as above her, the impassioned preacher spoke not to a congregation, but to a country, about how he had a dream. Despite growing up so sheltered, Karsci was quickly becoming a world traveller, a scholar of people, and an avid observor of not just places, but the people that defined them. And it was through this, and through observing how important she was to her mother, Karsci resolved to be, to become what she felt defined the world. A hero. After this, watching news footage of a battle, Karcsi tested a discovery that she had made a few weeks before. She was not just able to hear her babysitter's thoughts, but, with a little prompting able to influence her actions. All it took was one sleeping babysitter who was utterly convinced that Karcsi had been perfectly good and studious with her homework and in bed early in order for Whimsy to be born. The Rangers; a 'Super group' who largely kept the southwestAt the most. They were mostly based in Texas.as it's territory was all too frequently calling upon reserve or inactive members to answer distress calls. As time went by her parents realized that they were nearing a point in their lives where their daughter would be independent.That time had come and gone, truthfullyLikewise, heroes they knew were finding themselves in a position where an active life as a crime fighter was all but impossible with other responsibilities they had. Once again, the Bateman grant took up the slack - the research groups who had invested such time and interest in them helped supplement the Lamonts' income, allowing them to expand back into their old roles as superheroes... which gave Karcsi more than enough free time to 'patrol' the Austin area and Hill country in a costume, stopping what small street crime she ran across and occasionally running across things that were a bit too 'big' for her. While being able to read thoughts and influence people's actions was a neat 'trick' it wasn't terribly useful in combat and the last thing Karcsi wanted was to either be shot, hurt, or worse, be discovered. She came to the conclusion after a few months that what she was adept at was investigating. Being able to construe multiple points from witnesses who were generally incapable of lyingThough this time did make Karsci eminently familiar with how people's perceptions could be coloured by traumatic events. of view into a coherent; unified picture was immensely more useful than being bulletproof - especially when you had the luxury of having people around who actually were. While not Los Angeles, or, New York, Austin wasn't without it's own problems in terms of normal and Meta crime. The university and music scene on their own brought plenty of people into the population who had two very convenient excuses for being eclectic.Keep Austin Weird, Right? After a few months of patrolling rooftops It's a little known fact that Karcsi is quite adept with a grappling hook and parkour where she could Karcsi gradually began to meet and network with other young heroes. It came naturally, of course, due to both her extroverted personality as well as the the fact that that she was a convenient and reliable source of information.After all, she was one of the few people anyone knew who actually liked digging for information. That's boring.After a few months, Karsci was a regular partner to most of Austin's 'Teen hero' population. In many ways, she was indirectly responsible for bringing that community together; gradually adding this person or that person to a patrol or stakeout, calling in someone to help with a case when a power or just more company would be useful. Serving as an acretion point for the disaffected youth seeking some sort of way to use their powers and establish their identities, Karsci was the centerpiece for a small communications network was, which led to semi regular meetings, and, the occasional 'off the job hangout'Provided everyone was back in bed by midnight. In summer 2006, the 'Scouts' had their first 'official' mission as a team. For Karcsi, the time after 'Half a Million Empty Homes' was pivotal point in cementing her relationship with her parents. Especially her mother. During her recovery period, while mobile, the rejuvenatory cast she had to wear made her far from agile. As a result she had more than enough time on her hands to focus on her schoolwork in addition to training with her parents. The former, was utterly boring, was more than easily accomplished while manning and coordinating the shared com network of both the Scouts and RangersThe Scouts had their own, more traffiked private frequency and in late 2007 Karcsi officially graduated High School. She also spent a great deal of time working with her mother and a few of the more experienced psychics in the area to develop her powers. It had become clear to her over the coarse of her trip to El Paso that her abilities; while certainly useful coordinating, gathering information, or the occasional distraction, essentially made her a liability against an experienced foe. Her utterly inability to influence Flense's thoughts had more than proved that. She instead chose to concentrate on a 'lesser' aspect of her powers she had chosen not to pay too much attention too over the years; Her ability to create illusions. This proved to be more than she was looking for. Karcsi and her parents, who assisted her with this training, began to realize that her telepathy was the lesser aspect of her powers. Karcsi's 'main' power was the ability to interface directly with the Astral Plane. This revelation opened new doors for the mutant, and, by the time she was ready to have her cast removed and resume her 'field work' she was ready to leave Whimsy behind and instead adopt a new identity that she felt reflected her illusory abilities a bit more. She was going to be Daydream. The period of recuperation also provided her with the seed of what would become a passion of hers for many years to come. During a routine visit to her mother's hospital to take her lunch Karcsi happened to make contact with an a head trauma patient had been brought into the ER unconscious and had not woken. While she was unable to use her powers to wake him she discovered that she was able to reach the parts of his mind that were still active, and, at his request found and convinced his fiancé to allow Karcsi to link the two; allowing them to 'speak' and 'spend time together' for the first time since his accident 6 months earlier. She regularly met with the two once a week for several months, and, gradually began to receive more and more solicitations from families and even law enforcement to to perform similar tasks. With no homework and no desire to dive into school again, Karcsi had found something worthwhile to do with her powers beyond heroing and soon had a regular and full schedule of patients and clients who were more than grateful for her assistance. She also had her hands full with the Scouts. The migration of more and more of the experienced heroes to Michigan had left a firm vacuum which was more than eagerly filled by both the up and coming heroes of the Southwest as well as the 'B' and 'C' listers who had previously been pushed to the sidelines or marginalized. Unfortunately; in the time that it took for the new, and, old heroes to get acclimated and organized the rate of Meta-crime steadily rose. Without the need to tend to a steady job or school Karcsi and several other of the Scouts found themselves in the position of being full time heroes and responsible for central and north Texas. This was made a little easier by establishing a core group that was capable of traveling as needed with a pool of reserve members to draw from around the state. This approach was, in part, what allowed Justin Marks,aka Bandana, and his group The Outlaws so much success in a region where an excellent response time could be anywhere from 30 seconds to 30 minutes if the incident was local, or, an hour to three or more if the incident were further. The Outlaws, although they attempted to avoid violent crime whenever possible, choosing to stick to elaborate heists or the occasionally armored truck robbery, remained a top priority for the Scouts and the two groups spent a large amount of time in a cat and mouse game. In more ways than one. Marks had, somehow, obtained Karcsi's phone number and screen names and would regularly send her flirtatious texts, and, the two would chat. He would also volunteer information on the activities of other super-criminals to her if he could, especially if the plans included violence. This remains a well kept secret known only to the two of them. While the two groups remained largely at odds due to the almost innumerable thefts the Outlaws committed they were the ones who were primarily responsible in saving Daydream and stopping Malachi Adams during the seven day long 'Nightmare Crisis'. Athough physically fine, the ordeal had left Karcsi drained. She spent the next two days recuperating with The Outlaws in one of their bases, and, in particular spending a great deal of time with Justin Marks. Though there was an undeniable attraction between the two they acknowledge that the chances of them actually making anything long term last were slim unless either was willing to completely change their life. And, neither was. After calling her parents and teammates and assuring them they were ok, and, explaining the situation Karcsi spent another two days with Bandana before deciding it was time to return home. But, not before getting him agree to turn himself into the authorities. He spent a total of 30 minutes in custody before being teleported away by Wayfare. Convinced that the crisis was behind her, and, completely confused by her feelings regarding Bandana Karcsi attempted to return to her normal life. This was met with some success. An attempted relationship with Verve ended up in almost tearing the core group of Scouts apart when he and Makeover ended up in a relationship on the side; forming a convulted love triangle that was eventually resolved with all three agreeing to remain friends, and, Verve and Makeover a couple. The events of 'The Nightmare Crisis' and 'The Enemy' left an odd mark on Karcsi. Especially since she, at least in a small way, saw herself as responsible for both. After a few months of remaining active as Co-leader of the Scouts she decided that although she loved the Scouts, after all, it was as much 'hers' as it was anyone's, she desperatly needed some time 'off'. The answer came in the form of stumbling across a webpage for an academy in Millinum City of all places. While, she reasoned, she was comfortable enough with her powers, and, already a high school graduate, 'school' was something she had never really done. And, with spending most of her life on patrol, fighting, or manning the 'switchboard' she had never really had a chance to actually go anywhere. After a few days of dwelling on the idea, she presented it to her parents who both agreed that the experience, vacation, and chance to fill in the gaps of her 'heroic' education would be a good thing. Karcsi applied, and was accepted, to Halycon Academy. = = :Enhanced Physiology :Karcsi's unique genetic structure, at its base, grants her enhanced strength, agility, senses, and a basic healing factor. Functionally she's a bit stronger, faster, and more durable than a baseline human should be, though, it's nowhere near potent enough to be considered superhuman. :Psionics :Psionics, like most biological functions, is defined by what it does rather than how it does it. In Karsci's case, her psionics seem to function along the same principles as sympathetic vibration. A large, developed node in her brain serves as the beachhead of her powers, and it starts its function by 'tuning' itself to the individuals around her. For this reason, Karsci is actually reasonably capable of handling exposure to crowds; only after a few minutes of exposure to any individual is she liable to hear anything, so she is not subject to the classic 'wall of voices' that is commonly associated with uncontrolled psychic. This also makes it harder to hide from her in a crowd; if she has a familiarity with a particular thought process, like a memorized frequency, she can easily hone in on it. With this basis, though, came the connection to the astral plane. Not every psychic is connected to the Astral, but Daydream's mechanism for psychic powers can be used to tune to a broader frequency - and connect with a wholly different dimension of our universe. The astral plane is a mystery, by and large, normally only touched on by mystics, with a large amount of misinformation surrounding its lore. So far, Karsci hasn't become concerned with what it is, but rather what it does and what she can use it to do. :Because the Astral overlays with our own dimension, and is much like a connected fabric sheet, Karsci can impact our world by impacting the Astral; by extruding her mind into the Astral, she's able to deform a similar shape into our real world, creating a 'duplicate' or a 'pet' - a puppet of her own imagination. This lets her extend the reach on her powers, duplicating her own abilities through the mental node. As Karsci has been noted to say, "We're all a lot closer than you might think," indicating that at least from her perspective, the universe is quite small. Since she can use her Astral projection to reach very large distances, it seems reasonable to consider that to be true. :The development of her psychic powers has been the single biggest turning point between Daydream and Whimsy. Whimsy was a detective; Daydream has willed herself to employ every tool at her disposal to make a more concrete impact on things around her. Therefore, Daydream's powers are a bit more visceral, and even what Karsci herself considers cruel. Her allies think of her as a 'healer,' but for the most part her healing is merely shifting impacts forward and backwards in time - diminishing damage's impact, but not its long-term effect. She can diminish the sensation of pain, but the body uses pain to tell the brain to stop doing things that hurt it. :Her telekinesis and flight is actually even more of a cryptic shift from normal psionics; she's actually extruding small footholds and handholds through the astral. When she throws a large object, it's by the creation of what she calls an 'astral ramp' - an energy wave in the Astral that pulls something in this universe along a different gravity vector. The practical upshot of all this is that Karsci is actually very difficult to thwart as a psychic, because her telekinesis is not actual telekinesis. On the other hand, it does mean that dimensional seals and locks can infringe on her abilities. :Equipment :Karcsi carries a variety of 'standard' hero equipment including two communicators. One of which is calibrated exclusively for use by the Scouts and Rangers. She also typically has at least some candy on her of varying types. = = (( If you're not here and think you should be: Add yourself and I'll write something in! It's easy! )) = = (Please post IC quotes here!) "Come back to Texas! It's just the same since you went away..." - Bandana "Miss K-- Uh-- Daydream? She's awesome! We're Candy Buddies... We'll be the next b-big crime-fighting duo! 'He's a kid with an attitude and lots of power armor! She's got magic out the wazoo and a shared love for Twix bars.'... and we'd fight crime....hey... That sh-should be a website or somethin'." - Metal Raven "So help me, if you even think about going back to Texas I will hunt you down and whine at you non-stop, baby. Just saying." - Rave "The most intelligent one among you insignificant ants is the one who understands when fear is the appropriate response." - The Emissary "Karcsi..? She's like an M&M. She's bright and crunchy. Er...okay maybe just crunchy...but kinda bright? How about colourful and crunchy?" - Powersurge "Dreamface is awesome. She manages my band and is fun to hang out with. Oh, and I totally can beat her at Hackie-sack." - Alex = = Add them here. * Karcsi frequently goes out in public to crowded places looking for someone from her past. Some people say it's a lover, some people say it's an enemy. * Despite her public information being relatively available, there's the persistant rumour amongst conspiracists that Whimsy is actually Daydream's younger sister. * Astral projection being what it is, it's rumoured that Karsci is in fact an extradimensional entity, extruding itself onto our universe to learn our ways. * Rumours persist that Karsci, during her time in Mexico, was recruited into and became a member of the Secret Federalis. * For some inexplicable reason there's a common wisdom understanding that Karsci is politically conservative and opposes gay marriage. Since she hasn't made large public statements to the contrary, the argument still fosters. *Rumour has it that Karcsi shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die. *It is rumoured that Karcsi was born a strapping young boy by the name "Fernandez Manello Enriques Johan Elsalvador." = = Karcsi, in a lot of ways, is both a nod too, and, an evolution of a character I played in City of heroes for many, many years. While she's not quite Gossamer Blush for a lot of reasons, she is, I think, what I always wanted Milly to be. Where Milly was jaded and just wanted to be left alone; Karcsi's extroverted and likes talking to people. Where Milly was more than willing to use her powers to mind control that 5th Column agent; Karcsi considers herself above brute manipulation like that. Ultimately, at this time of this writing. I think Karcsi's story is about Growing Up and Having a Happy Childhood.. There's a bit of juxtaposition there, but, it fits I think. She wants to finish finding out who she is, and, at the same time, she wants to finally take the chance to be as free and happy as she can; If she wants to get hopped up on Red Bull and play Hackie Sack in Ren Center, she's going to do it. Because she's realizing that she never really took the time too. That being said, on with the notes. *Karcsi loves Hackie Sacks. She always carries one and will accept any challenge, anytime, from anyone. *^And she'll beat *YOU*.^ *She absolutely hates when people ask if she is reading their mind, or, when they get all freaked out that she's a telepath. *Karcsi knows her limits. If a super strong or powerful person tries to fight her she'll run without shame. She's not a front liner. *Although she says she wants to be a doctor, photography's her real love. *Karcsi's eyes are indeed red. *She's a huge MST3K and Rifftrax fan. *She's allergic to Cottonwood *She hates bees. More than you can imagine. And wasps. *Daydream is HUGE in Japan. No joke. She has a fan club and fan sites. Unfortunately she also has Doushinji . One time a fan tried to get her to sign one. That didn't go to well for him. *Karcsi has four barely noticeable scars on her right thigh in the shape of fingertips. *She writes and plays records songs in Reason. No one ever gets to hear them. Ever. *While not even an occasional smoker. She does always have a pack of cigarettes and a zippo with her. *Contrary to rumors, she goes to frequents movies, magic shows, and concerts just to 'feel' the reactions of the crowd. = = *A Stonehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vC0yMNhZDI&feature=related - Okkervil River *I Just Want the Girl in the Blue Dress to Keep on Dancinghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9GzLOk52Wo&feature=related Mike Doughty = = = = Category:Templates